Meet the Parents
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: What's worse than having to meet your boyfriend's parents for the first time? Doing so after spending the night at the house he used to live with the woman he cheated on with you. Heh... - One-shot.


"Nice place for a mid card fighter."

"I'd agree," Paul said as he and Steph got out of her car, "if a mid card fighter lived here."

"Oh?"

Nodding, he said, "I hear the top of the top lives here. The best of the best. The-"

"King of kings?"

"Hey, I like that."

"Bet you do."

He tapped her on the head, once they were both standing in front of the car, her staring up at his house while he mostly just watched her.

"I mean, it's no McMahon mansion," he kept up. "But-"

"Shut up." She shoved him a bit then before turning. "Let me just get my bag and-"

"I'll get your bag later." He grabbed her hand before she got too far. "C'mon; let's go inside. I wanna show you my gym."

"You have a gym?"

"Babe, when I first got this place, all I had was the gym. No furniture. I slept in a sleeping bag when I was here. But I had a damn gym."

"That's...oddly hot," Steph admitted with a really cute giggle, allowing herself to be tugged right up to the front door. "But I think that I kind of just think everything you do is hot."

"Well, you should," he said, fishing his keys out of his pocket. "Because it is."

"You're not big on modesty, are you, babe?"

"Not in the slightest, babe."

Steph was full of jitters though, as she had been the entire time they were driving down there. It was a big step, after all, coming to his house. In the over year long dating they'd done (sneaking around behind his girlfriend's back), she'd never even seen the place. He was, after all, living with Joanie. Now though that their relationship had been (embarrassingly so) exposed, she'd moved out and Steph was finally getting the coveted chance to spend the night over at his place.

Not that it was even the biggest part of the three days she was spending in New Hampshire with him.

"I told my parents," he reminded her as he opened the door, "that we wouldn't be here until tomorrow, so we have all of today completely to ourselves. Barring that you want to go out to dinner or something because then we might run into them or someone that knows me and will tell them I was here or-"

"We can just order pizza."

"See? That's why you're my woman." He pulled her right inside. "Among other reasons."

Paul's house looked really...sterile. Unlived in. Which wasn't surprising, considering that one of the two inhabitants had just moved out. Not to mention neither was ever home much to begin with.

"So I guess," the man said as Steph looked around, him only pulling her right through the living room, "that I should give you a tour or something."

"Not nearly a big enough place for that."

"I wanna do it anyways." He stopped, in the middle of the living room, before nodding towards a hallway. "Bedrooms that way. There's two. And a bathroom. Kitchen's over there. We're in the living room. I got a pool, but it's drained because I'm never home to use it. And now for what I wanna do."

"You know your gym isn't going to impress me, right? My dad has, like, the most impressive one ever."

"I'm not trying to impress you with the worth of it, babe." He grinned over his shoulder at her. "I'm gonna impress you as I let you watch me workout."

"I've seen that before. A lot, actually."

"Not one on one, with me, in a completely empty gym."

"That once when we were at that show in California, there was no one in that gym in-"

"A tiny, cozy gym then. Fine. God, Steph, just come with me."

Oh, she was.

Paul's gym wasn't much, just some workout equipment in his basement, but he seemed to be pretty impressed with it and wanted her to feel the same, so she did. She was pretty good at feeling whatever it was that he wanted her to.

He had to change, before he could work out, but he did so quickly, practically ordering her to spot him. It wasn't much of an order though because, truth be told, it did kind of get her hot, watching him get all sweaty and pumped up.

It took the edge off a bit too, about her being in his house for the first time. When he was working out, all of his attention went into that and it was a bit calming, as there was no chance for him to see her slip up on something. Not that she was sure, exactly how she could screw up. The whole way down there, all Paul talked about was how excited he was to finally have her there. It kind of felt like they were officially closing the book on the whole affair thing and starting, truly, as a real couple.

Her meeting his parents the next afternoon would only cement that.

Stephanie wrongfully assumed that Paul was joking about having a full workout, but he most certainly was not. It was over an hour later that they went back upstairs, him heading off to the shower and her falling into his black leather couch.

"You sure you don't wanna join me? Eh? Steph?"

Making a face up at him as he stood over the back of the couch staring down at her, she said, "I'm, like, starved. I'll order the pizza, okay? And just hang out?"

"Don't just hang out," he said, moving then to grab the television remote from where it sat on a little table between his couch and overstuffed chair. Tossing it to her, Steph managed to catch it as he said, "Make yourself at home. And find us a movie to order or something. Preferably something R-rated." Then, as he was walking away, he added, "Or just porn. Big tittied blondes."

"You're too much," she commented dryly.

"Babe, I'm just enough."

Steph felt the awkwardness creepy back up on her, as she was left alone. She was certain had it not very much so been the home of his last girlfriend not a two month ago, she might not have, but it was and she did.

There was no way around it.

The idea to snoop around came to Steph once or twice, but she really didn't want to screw everything up before it even started. And, again, if something of Joan's still was around, that would make her feel like shit or jealous or some other silly emotion that she knew was stupid yet couldn't help feeling.

So she flipped through the PPVs and mostly tried to think about anything other than her nerves.

"That," came a voice from the hall eventually, "does not look like any kind of porno that I wanna watch."

"It's a horror flick," she giggled as he stared at the preview for the movie she'd stopped on. "I know you're into those."

"I told you what I was into," he grumbled a bit, coming over to her. "Before. The blondes with-"

"We're not doing that together."

"Figured." He came to rest on the couch with her, Steph giggling and immediately moving to snuggle right up to him. "You order the pizza?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Good." Wrapping an arm tightly around her, he said, "Now hurry up and pick a porno."

"Paul-"

"Pick a movie, Steph." He grinned down at her. "Before I do it for you."

Stephanie tried to pay for the pizza when it got there, but Paul only called her cute and patted her on the head, telling her to go get them something to drink from the kitchen.

"You have," she called to him after she heard him finish up in the living room and shut the front door, "literally nothing in here to drink. No soda or anything."

"But Steph, that's just not true!" He came to set the pizza down on the counter before grinning over at the woman. She'd pulled out two glasses from the cabinet, but was staring blankly at his mostly empty fridge. Coming up behind her, he reached out to pick up a jug of milk. "See? This is-"

"Paul, that's, like, five days old."

"Only five?"

"Paul-"

"Milk is good for, like, a week after the expiration date."

"It is not."

"Is too," he insisted, taking a step back from her. "It's just a show of how late the store can still sell it by. That's all."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

She crossed her arms, turning to face him. "Then why's it called expiration? Instead of-"

"Sell by?" He held the jug closer to her, showing off that that very much so was what that jug said. "See? It's just a preference. Sell by, expiration. Just words."

Still not convinced, she said, "I'm not drinking that."

"Your loss. I-"

"And you're not either."

"Come again?"

"If you drink this," she said as she moved to take the jug from him and pour it down the drain, "then I wouldn't kiss you for, oh, a week. At least."

"There are much better things for us to do than kiss," he enticed which got a glare over the shoulder of Stephanie.

"Our movie is on in, like, ten minutes," she said, going to his fridge first for ice and then going to fill their glasses with water. It was probably better for them anyways. And definitely more so than spoiled milk. "So come on."

The movie was shit. Both of them agreed. It couldn't quite figure out if it was trying to be a chick flick or some sort of action movie (they kept having these car chase scenes, but they weren't done well while trying to intermingle the main chick choosing between the two main guys), but he'd paid for it, so they sat through it. Pizza was good, at least, and Steph enjoyed ripping the piece of pepperoni off and feeding them to him.

Paul mostly just liked how close the two of them were sitting.

"We'd have ended up just like this anyways, you know," he breathed when she was there, on the couch with him, on her knees facing him as he turned his head to kiss her. "If we'd just have bought the dang porn. Minus the annoying movie."

"We'd have ended up in a fight."

He grinned at that as she still just sat there, watching him, leaning towards him. "Why's that? Baby? You get jealous of some damn women on a stupid screen?"

"Maybe."

"That's hot. You're hot. Fuck, I want you."

"Paul."

"Mmmm." He felt around, keeping his eyes on hers, for the remote, finding it next to him on the cushion. Flicking off the television, he left them in darkness as he shifted completely, staring even more heavily into her eyes. "I've waited so long to have you here. You know that?"

Steph felt the old comments and annoyances pop up, just from him saying that. It was his fault that she couldn't be there. He was the one that wouldn't let go of his relationship, that was stringing her along pretending as if he was getting ready to break it off (though at times he seemed to have no plans to), that told her, at times, flat out that things were over between him and Joanie and they just happened to be living together.

But…

It was over. No matter how it got to that point, it was true. They were together, there was no hiding anything, and she was fine there. She belonged there. With him.

Finally.

"Yeah," she giggled, just a bit as one of his hands came up to grasp her chin. While he held it, she opened her mouth a bit stuck her tongue at out at him. Then, softly, she said, "You wanna be out here?"

"Fuck you on the couch?" He hummed, as if in thought. "Hell yeah." He moved as if to kiss her again, but just as Steph was leaning towards him, he paused. "Or wait. Have you see the greatness that is the bedroom of _the_ Hunter Hearst Helmsley yet?"

"No." She was annoyed, just like he wanted, by him still speaking. "You were too busy wanting to show off your gym."

"It is a damn good gym."

"It definitely is."

That time when he leaned in, it was to nuzzle his head against hers. Letting out a slow breath on her lips, he breathed, "C'mon. Let's go to bed."

And she wanted to. She _really_ wanted to. But…

"Is it still the same bed from when...you know, you were still with..."

Paul, who had been getting ready to get up, frowned over at her. "What?"

"Is it?"

"What are you asking?" he repeated, making a face. "Like, do you wanna know if it's the same mattress or something?"

Or something.

When she nodded, his brows furrowed.

"W-Why?" The mood was dying quickly as he fell back against the couch, just staring at her. Steph was still on her knees and didn't appear to be moving any time soon. "Steph? What difference does that-"

"Is it?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"That's...not weird to you?"

"No," he said in a rather drawn out way. He felt like he was about to be inundated with some sort of stupid girl rule and he was not at all pleased. "Should it be?"

"Yes!" Steph reached over and shoved his shoulder which was not appreciated. At all. As he glared at her, she said, "That's like...sacrilegious or something."

"How does sleeping with two women in the same bed make me part of a cult?"

Steph only stared for a moment. "Are you joking? Or do you seriously not understand what I'm saying? Because it has nothing to do with damn cults and you know it. You're not going to make a joke out of this."

"I don't want to," he said with a big shrug of his shoulders and a shake of his head. "Not when I don't really understand what this is to begin with and, what I do know of it, I don't find very funny. Literally at all."

"Paul, you guys were serious," she told him with a heavy frown. "Very serious. You lived together."

"And?"

" _And_ that was the bed that you shared together."

"I'm not big on symbolism, babe, so-"

"Well, I am."

"Right, so you can fuck another woman's man in a hotel room, but in her bed, it's somehow worse?"

"Yes!"

Ugh…

Paul tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling as he rubbed at his nose. "I'm not with her anymore, Stpehanie. You know that."

"I know that," she agreed.

"Which makes it my bed now. It-"

"No, Paul, it doesn't."

"Stephanie-"

"It doesn't."

"So I have to buy a whole fucking new mattress?"

"I'm not telling you what you have to do," she said, falling back on her butt then as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm telling you what I'm not going to do."

"Oh my God, you're so fucking annoying."

Snort. "And you're an asshole."

Letting his head fall to the side, he stared over at her in the darkness as he retorted, "What the hell about you, Steph?"

"What about me?"

"You had a boyfriend too," he grumbled. "And I've fucked you more than once in your bed-"

"Stop saying fucked."

"-but for some reason that's okay."

"I didn't live with him, Paul. I wasn't almost married to him. I-"

"I wasn't either!"

"Paul-"

"I wasn't. I-"

"I didn't love him," she went right along, not wanting to go down that path for the billionth time. "And it was never his bed or his house or-"

"Is that the problem? Huh? That she lived here?"

"No! I-"

"You're such a fucking woman."

"I just said that's not-"

"If you didn't want to come here-"

"I never said that."

"Then what are you saying?"

"Just that I'm not sleeping in that bed. I'm so sorry." She gave him a mighty heavy eye roll then. "Jerk."

"Where are you gonna sleep then? Huh? Steph?"

"You said you had a sleeping bag, didn't you?"

"Stephanie-"

"The guest room," she replied. "I'll sleep there."

"You honestly think I didn't fuck her there too?"

"Stop saying that word, Paul. It's disrespectful to-"

"Why? Huh? It's my house. I'll say what I want. Fuck. I fuck you, Steph. Damn. What the hell do you want me to call it?"

"I want to stop calling it anything because it's totally not happening tonight anyways."

"That's great, Steph. That's real great. You big baby."

"Shut up."

"Why don't you?"

Shoving up, Paul headed off, down the hall, and away from her. She sat there, steaming mad for a good minute, before calling out, "Then I'll just go then, Paul. Is that what you want? Because I will. I-"

"Damn it, Steph, just shut up."

But he was coming back. She could hear him. And, after what sounded like some fumbling around, he came back into the living room bearing a stack of sheets and a blanket.

"Here. Can we at least sleep on the same damn sheets? If they've been washed? Or are those sacred too?"

She gave him such a dirty look that he knew not to press his luck.

They didn't make up the bed on the couch though. Not then. And they didn't make up in general either. Instead, he sat the stack of sheets and blanket down on the other end of the couch from her before going to sit in his chair and glare at the television.

Stephanie was kind enough to grab the remote for him and turn it on.

That damn movie was still on and they finished it in a tense silence.

Then she put it on one of her stupid chick shows and he suffered in an even stonier silence.

But Steph had driven for a good part of the way there (he took over for the end of the journey) and it was clearly taking its toll on her. When he glanced over at one point and found her to be asleep, he figured at first that it would be his chance to finally snag the remote.

Coming over to her though, he still thought she was being a stupid woman and annoying as hell (seriously, was that a rule or something; and when you were both cheating to begin your relationship, didn't it nullify any and all other rules about such things), but…

"Hey, Steph." He shoved at her shoulder gently. "Get up, baby. Let me lay down, huh?"

"No," she groaned, though she was doing so. "You're too big."

"We'll both fit."

They did. But she griped about it first.

She really was just a big baby...about everything…

Paul accidentally kicked the sheets and blanket to the ground, but they were fine just with one another as Steph snuggled up real close to him, mostly on his chest, somewhat not, but almost certainly going to tumble off at some point.

For a good while, they were both able to relax again and, for all intents and purposes, they were made up.

Paul drifted off somewhere between the baseball coverage on SportsCenter and the pre-season football. When he woke up again, the television was off and he was alone.

"Steph?" He felt rather drowsy, but was worried that she had gone ahead and left or something, which would've sucked. "Stephanie?"

There was only one light in the house and it was down the hall. Not from his bedroom though. The guest bathroom.

Stumbling through the darkness towards it, he found her in there, of course.

"You could knock."

"Why?"

"Uh, gee, because it'd only be courteous."

"You're a chick. You guys don't piss or shit, right?"

"Definitely not."

"Then what difference does it make?"

He smiled sleepily at her, watching the woman towel off, there, in his bathroom. She wasn't bashful about it either, regardless of her half-complaint to suggest otherwise. Standing in the doorway, he leaned up against the doorjamb, watching.

Steph watched herself too, though it was in the mirror that hung over the sink, refusing to look his way. "You're such a creep."

"Me? You're taking a shower in the middle of the damn night in my place without asking-"

"I'm a guest. I used the guest bathroom."

"You're not just a guest."

"And I also did it with permission, but here we are."

"When? Huh? Did I give this permission?"

"Uh, gee, about the time earlier when you were heading off to the shower and told me to make myself at home."

"You use the guest bathroom at home?"

"Paul-"

"You're gross," he grumbled as, dropping the towel, she literally bent over in front of him to pick up some of her discarded clothes to slip them back on. "Wearing the same clothes as before."

"My bag is in the car," she informed him. "Someone never got it for me."

"Who might that be?"

"The same someone who I can totally feel staring at my ass."

"I'm not denying it."

"Go get my bag, Paul, and-"

"Better idea." He was finally able to tear himself away from the scenic (in his mind) view and head down the hall. "Give me a sec, huh?"

"Hurry up." He hoped that she bounced or something and threw her arms over her chest in annoyance. That's what he envisioned her as doing. "I'm cold."

Even better.

Paul came back to her quickly, bearing, of course, one of his t-shirts. Steph frowned after slipping it on.

"You didn't bring me any shorts or something?"

"Why? I like you better without any of 'em on."

"Just go get me some, Paul."

"Fine," he groaned and it was loud too, his gripe, before heading off. "You big-"

"Stop calling me a baby!"

Annoying.

They didn't put the sheets on the couch when they got back to it. Rather, they found better use of the big over stuffed chair, tossing them over it and the ottoman. Stretching out on it together, this time finding herself more off his chest than not, but still definitely on it at least a little, Paul and Steph shared a grin.

"You comfy?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Good."

Reaching up, it was Steph's turn to grab his chin as she rubbed her thumb gently against the stubble that was there. "I'm sorry that I'm-"

"High maintenance?"

She made a face. "Not how I was going to say it, but sure."

"It's okay." He gave her a bit of a grin. "Just go to sleep, huh? My parents are coming over to meet you in the afternoon."

Dropping her hand from his chin, her head fell too as she said, "You've filled there head with great things about me, right?"

"Mmmhmm."

"And explained how great I really am, regardless of what they see on TV?"

"Mmmhmm."

"And that it wasn't my fault that you broke up with-"

"Oh, no, I told them that you were a definite temptress and seduced me at every turn."

"Paul-"

"They're gonna love you. Because I fucking love you."

And that was just that.

The problem was, however, that neither felt much up for sleeping then. Steph's shower had woken her up and teasing her had done the same to him.

They must have laid around for twenty minutes, both shifting around, until, finally, one of them truly spoke again.

"So why did you take a shower?"

"I felt icky and you were sleeping." Steph kissed one of his pecs. "Driving in the car all day is stressful too."

"Is it though?"

It was when you were busy fretting over what the destination held for you.

Nodding her head, Steph said, "You didn't mind, right?"

"Of course not." Then he frowned. "I would have preferred, of course, you showering with me before, but-"

"Why?" One of her legs was already stretched across his waist so it wasn't hard for her to shift to straddling him. Helping with that were his hands which fell to her hips easy, guiding her while also pushing up his baggy t-shirt so that his hands laid against her flesh. "Then you wouldn't have been up for right now."

"Babe, I'm up for all day every day." He let out a slow breath as her hands fell to his bare chest as he'd stripped down to his boxers after their bathroom excursion. "With you."

"Only me?"

He nodded some, mouth hanging open as his hands crept further up her body. "I love you."

"You do not."

"Do too. Love you so much I'll forgive you when you have to get up to slip off those damn shorts I asked you not to wear."

"I didn't plan on us doing this."

"You did too."

"Did not."

"Mmmm. Only got two words for liars, Steph," he mumbled as she got to her feet to shimmy his gym shorts off before quickly climbing back into his lap. "I think you know 'em."

Shaking her head a bit, she moaned, "Nu-uh. Tell them to me."

Paul let out a slight breath as she slid a bit, back away from him. "Suck it."

That time, her hum was a lot softer. "That's so weird. Because that's the exact thing I was thinking of doing."

"Isn't it just?"

When silence finally befell the house again, both were more than ready to sleep till, at least, eleven, and then deal with his parents when they showed up. Steph only slipped back on that t-shirt he gave her, too lazy for much else, while Paul left for the bathroom for a bit, though he snuggled right back into the chair with her when he was done.

They must have slept for hours.

Sun was shining into the windows when they were both awakened much later to what sounded like the sound of a car door slamming and then some soft chatter.

Steph was more than disoriented, but Paul's eyes opened almost immediately.

He was dead. Stephanie was going to kill him. He just knew she was. Because, even at only eight in the morning and after limited sleep, his brain was immediately able to figure out what was going on.

It was his mother out there. He could hear her too, the closer she got to the front door. And his sister. At least.

Fuck.

But why? He knew with certainty that he'd told them that he wouldn't be there until noon. At least.

He didn't have time to deal with that, of course, because Steph was naked from the waist down, he was completely nude, and his mother was just on the other side of the front door.

Had he locked it? After getting the pizza?

Fucking hell.

"Steph, get up." He was shoving her up then just as there was a knock on the front door. They no doubt saw the car outside and knew that he had to be home. Great. That would buy time. "Now."

"I don't-"

"Shhhh." He wasn't being too gentle, but then Steph never required such a thing. "Go find your clothes. In the bathroom. And-"

"Paul! Are you home? That's not his car," the man heard his mother mumble no doubt to his sister on the other side of the front door. "Maybe we should just-"

"I'm here, Mom," he yelled then, to keep her from using her key. "Just, uh, give us a minute, okay?"

Stephanie was alert then, staring at him with wide eyes before rushing off, perhaps too loudly, out of the living room, stripping off the shirt she'd worn to bed and tossing it back at him to put on as Paul took to looking for his boxers.

The hell could they have gotten off to?

The longer it took to find them, of course, the more his mother knew, but there honestly wasn't anything Paul could do about that. And when finally he drug them out from underneath the couch (how the fuck did they get under there), enough time had past that there was no reason to even pretend like they didn't know what was going on.

He was more than a bit flushed when he opened the front door to find his sister and mother there, their arms full of grocery bags. Lynn, his sister had that knowing look in her eyes and his mother wouldn't look him directly in the eyes, but he had to deal with something else first.

"I'd help you," he said as he allowed them in before rushing outside in only his boxers and t-shirt, "but I gotta get somethin'."

Steph had left her trunk unlocked, luckily (he'd get on her for it later), allowing him to grab her bag and rush it inside to her.

"I told you," he grumbled as he met her trying to leave the guest bathroom in what she wore the day before, "that that's nasty to put on-"

"Give me that," she snatched her bag back from him before shoving him right back out of the bathroom. "You jerk."

"How am I a jerk?"

"You did this. You know that you did this. You-"

"Oh, yeah, Steph, I just love announcing to my family that I had sex the night before."

She slammed the door in his face.

And he was nearly certain his mother and sister probably heard his hushed whispers.

Fuck. Life was shit.

"So why," he asked them as, after tugging on some jeans, he came into the kitchen to find them silently putting the groceries they'd brought over away, "are you guys here early again? By hours?"

"We could ask you the same thing," his sister teased, staring over at him. "But I think we all know."

Refusing to allow himself to be embarrassed, he only said, "We got a chance to get here early and-"

"Uh-huh."

"You said you wouldn't be here until noon," his mother told him as the man came to help her put things away. "We thought we'd come and stock up your fridge for you and I'd make lunch over here."

"Mom, we were gonna go out and-"

"I know, but you're never home and I thought you'd rather me make you something."

Well, he wouldn't _hate it_ , but…

Steph came about then, red cheeked and clearly nervous. It was not, of course, the way that she wanted to meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time (the real first time; they'd been to a show once and he'd introduced her, but that was far before they started seeing one another). The only consolation was that it was just his mother and not his father too, but that was made up for by his sister being there and, ugh.

Even though they weren't doing anything wrong (anymore) by being together, Steph felt rather dirty about the whole thing.

His mother hugged her though, which was nice and his sister didn't say anything disparaging, like Shane would have done, had he caught her and a boyfriend for the first time. Didn't try to embarrass her or intimidate her. They were nice people, she knew that, but still.

It was gauche regardless of intent.

"You bought eggs and sausage, Mom," Paul remarked as he put it away after introducing his girlfriend to his family. "For what? If you didn't think I would be here?"

"You have to have something to eat in the morning, Paul."

"I have protein mix."

"You also have someone else staying with you that you should be considerate of."

Great. His mother was gonna use Steph against him.

It gave him something to do though, make the women breakfast. Err, well, let them make him breakfast, actually, as he only went to sit down and watch. He pulled Steph over to the table too, mumbling in her ear that his mother would rather she just sit than help; she was more the catering type than the catered to.

Over breakfast (and while it was being made), Paul tried to keep the conversation more focused on him than the clearly nervous Stephanie. When she got that way, all worked up, she typically made a big dork out of herself by trying too hard and, while he found it endearing and loveable as hell, he wasn't sure what his sister and mother would think of it.

He talked about the only thing he ever talked about, of course, the company, droning on and on about things that he knew was boring the others (except Steph), but he couldn't help it. That was just his go to topic. Other than heavy metal, fucking Steph, and body building, Paul was kind of out of topics.

"-told Vince that I don't think that's interesting to anyone, literally at all, but you know Vince," the man was going on as they all sat there in front of their plates of fried eggs, toast, and sausage patties. "Err, well, Steph knows Vince; he's the ultimate authority."

His girlfriend, when he looked at her, was quick to nod and smile, if not a bit awkwardly, at his mother and sister. "It's true. Even I can't change his mind on most things."

Giving a really cheesy grin, Paul reached over and tapped her on the head. "'cept about me."

She rolled her eyes. "That's what you think."

Lynn laughed at that, if only a bit, glancing between her brother and the man's girlfriend. Paul, frowning at this, only stared back at her.

"What?" he asked, but she only shook her head.

"Nothing." She stared right back. "You're just so _charming_ , Paul."

He stabbed the yoke of one of his eggs. "Shuddup."

His brother-in-law showed up on time, at least, with their kids and Paul's father. Steph had relaxed (at least a bit) before that, but was revved right back up. Luckily, however, his nephew Peter took up much of her time.

With some very serious concerns about the state of the business recently.

Paul helped out where he could, but the boy wanted some answer straight from the horse's mouth. And, since that ass Vince wasn't there, he'd get them from the man's daughter.

It gave Paul a chance to focus some of his attention on the others though. He missed much of all their lives and, as he didn't get often to come home (and since most of his time there recently had been marred with a breakup), it was nice just to sit in his living room and chat with them.

"How am I doing?" Steph asked him at one point, when they found themselves alone in the kitchen, him going to get a glass of water, her fetching his nephew a coke (that thankfully his mother had brought over; Paul had a pretty great mother, he would admit).

"Well, frankly, I find your answers a bit shaky." He shook his head at her. "I mean, my nephew is no moron; he knows as well as anyone that Vince McMahon and Vince McMahon alone is at fault for the Montreal Screwjob. He-"

"Paul-"

"I'm just joking with you." He gave her a bit grin. "Bret was being a dick. Everyone with half a brain knows that."

"You're not-"

"You're doing fine." He gave her a kiss on the head too, just to relax her. "Just...calm down some, huh? They wouldn't hate you even if you weren't. You're my girlfriend; they have to like you."

Right, because that's what she wanted to hear at the moment.

Paul was horrible at helping other people take the edge off. It was probably because he didn't drink and didn't really understand the concept behind it.

Steph insisted on helping with lunch preparations and, at the very least, it gave Paul a chance to talk to his father some. They'd taken his nephew and niece to run around outside and were sitting on his patio, sipping on some sodas (Paul was being horrible to his body that day, he knew, and would more than make up for it in the ones following) while observing.

"So," Paul began slowly, giving his father a glance. "What do you think of Steph?"

"Hmmm." His father paused for a moment, as if in thought. "She has a very odd laugh."

"Dad-"

"And her voice is a bit grating."

He was starting to realize why Steph hated when he did this to her.

"You're not-"

"She's fine." His father smiled over at him. "Her father though-"

"It's getting better," the man told him simply. "Up at work. Things will settle more, as time goes on."

"I'm sure."

Stephanie had found her place it seemed, by the time that lunchtime rolled around. They sat in Paul's rather tiny dining room (he bought the house for the basement for his gym and absolutely nothing else) and his girlfriend seemed fine when she found herself between Lynn's husband and Paul's mother.

He gave her a big grin, Paul did, and mouthed something of support, but she just ignored him. Now that she'd found her own, she no longer needed him.

Annoying.

But just how he'd have liked it.

They stuck around for a bit, after lunch, his family did, to do dishes and stuff, but he'd be seeing them the following day, or his parents at least, when he went to their house for dinner. Before they left, Steph promised his niece and nephew to get them some great seats, next time RAW or Smackdown was in town (Smackdown, Peter requested) and that if they ever wanted to see it somewhere else, she'd make sure they got them there.

Which was Lynn and her husband's cue to usher their kids out of there before they had a chance to make any such requests.

"So," Lynn asked her brother, taking him to the side before they left, "you're totally gonna tell me why you guys were sleeping in the chair, right?"

Even if she and his mother hadn't caught them, the fact that it was still made up into a bed when they came in would have been enough of a giveaway.

"Steph has this...thing about sleeping in the same bed that Joanie did or something." He glanced over where, at that time, his girlfriend was still making those promises to his niece and nephew. "It's stupid. Right?"

"Mmmm, I dunno. It sounds pretty right to me."

"No way. It's stupid and chickish and-"

"I'm sorry, you did realize that your girlfriend is a...chick, right?"

"Shuddup."

"Make me, Mr. Wrestler."

Heh.

"But if she says it," his sister told him before going to do that ushering, "I'd go ahead and just get a new damn bed."

Yeah, yeah.

"You for real thought that that went okay?" was the first thing Steph asked after they'd closed the door on his family and were alone, once more, in his home. "Paul?"

He only came to capture both her cheeks in his hands and press a big, sloppy kiss to her forehead. Then, against it, he whispered, "Couldn't have gone better."

"Other than them totally knowing that we-"

"Babe, they would have assumed anyways. I mean, come on; me and you? The hottest people on the planet? Would be a tragedy if we didn't fu...sleep together."

"You can say it. Now." Steph was relaxed completely in the hold he had on her head. "Fuck."

Grinning against her forehead, he gave her another kiss before saying, "Fuck."

She allowed herself to be tugged over to the couch, which they fell into together, before saying, "It's not fair that I don't get to freak you out by making you meet my parents. Completely unfair."

"Steph, your parents freak me out whether I'm with you or not." He kept an arm around her shoulders as he leaned down to nuzzle her head. "Even if they'd all hated you, Steph, it wouldn't matter. Just like it doesn't matter if every single guy in the locker room hates me or if your father's still secretly trying to find a way to fire me; I wanna be with you. It's not...explainable, but I just need you. It wasn't about the chase or the mystique or the sneaking around; it's just about you. And me. And that's it."

Leaning into him, she couldn't help the huge grin that she was sporting, much less the blush.

The next time she came to stay with him (it was over a month later, given how busy they both were) there was not only a new mattress, but he'd also made the place a bit less sterile by decorating some. Still definitely not lived in full time, but less lonely.

Now, he still thought the whole thing was stupid and idiotic and that Steph was just making stuff up to be annoying as hell, but…

He loved her. That meant he'd do just about anything for her.

* * *

 **I got a different request for Steph meeting his parents, but them walking in on them or something and this is what I came up with. Ask and receive. Always accepting more requests too, guys. Still more to go though.**


End file.
